News

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, September 19, 2007

ISBE announces earliest release of Report Card data
to schools in more than 20 years

Spring testing data shows ISAT, IMAGE scores are up

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Board of Education
(ISBE) announced today the release of the 2007 School
Report Card to schools and districts statewide – the
earliest release in the 21-years of producing school
report cards. Analysis of the 2007 statewide testing
data also shows improvement and ongoing progress for
Illinois’ students.

“Getting student assessment scores out on time
has been a priority for me since starting in this position.
As education decision making becomes more and more driven
by data, it is imperative schools get accurate information
in a timely manner,” said State Superintendent
of Education Christopher Koch. “Our goal is to
build on what we’ve done this year to ensure that
in the future we can have these results to schools sooner
and in a way that allows them to make more efficient
use of the data.”

ISBE has produced the School Report Card since 1986
for every public school and district in the state. State
report cards have been produced since 2002 and are required
by the federal No Child Left Behind law. Report cards
now include the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) School
Status information.

The most recent tests were given in March and April.
Students in third – eighth grades took the Illinois
Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) in reading and mathematics
while students in fourth and seventh grades were tested
in science and fifth and eighth grade students were tested
in writing. Students in 11th grade take the Prairie State
Achievement Exam (PSAE), which tests students in math,
reading and science.

The statewide average percentage of students meeting
or exceeding standards on ISAT increased from 77% in
2006 to 78.7% in 2007, while the average percentage of
students meeting and exceeding standards on the PSAE
fell from 54.3% last year to 52.6% this year. Students
with limited English-proficiency take the Illinois Measure
of Annual Growth in English exam (IMAGE) and the statewide
average of students meeting and exceeding standards on
IMAGE increased this year to 63.4% from 61.6%. Students
with disabilities whose participation in ISAT or the
PSAE would not be appropriate take the Illinois Alternate
Assessment (IAA). The state average on IAA declined 3.5
points to 59.1%.

ISAT Statewide Average Percentage Meets/Exceeds:

2007

2006

Reading

Grade 3

73.0

70.7

Grade 4

73.7

72.9

Grade 5

69.7

68.5

Grade 6

73.4

72.8

Grade 7

73.4

72.0

Grade 8

81.8

79.2

Math

Grade 3

86.8

85.6

Grade 4

86.4

84.8

Grade 5

82.5

78.6

Grade 6

81.4

79.1

Grade 7

79.4

76.1

Grade 8

81.3

78.2

Science

Grade 4

79.8

79.8

Grade 7

79.3

80.9

PSAE Statewide Averages Percentage Meets/Exceeds:

2007

2006

Reading

Grade 11

54.1

58.4

Math

Grade 11

52.7

53.6

Science

Grade 11

51.0

50.8

NCLB requires all states to measure each public school’s
and district’s achievements and establish annual
achievement targets for the state. The overreaching goal
is for all students to meet or exceed standards in reading
and mathematics by 2014.

The Report Card offers a wealth of useful and important
information for students, schools and districts, as well
as parents and community members including overall student
performance; performance on state assessments; student
demographics; and financial information.

Local districts must release their report cards to the
public by October 31st. The ISBE Report Card will be
available to the public on that date.